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Holy Empire of Britannia (The Sum of Our Choices)
The Holy Empire of Britannia is a superpower in Juubi-K's Code Geass ''fanfiction The Sum of Our Choices. This page is being updated to match the Reboot currently in planning. Geography Home Territories The Empire's home territories, sometimes referred to as 'Britannia Proper' or 'the Homeland', consist of North and Central America, Hawaii, and Greenland, along with the entire Carribean region. All these territories were acquired before the introduction of the Area system. These territories are in turn divided along feudal lines, providing Britannia with a truly vast peerage. The largest of these are the Archduchies, though these are also known as States. As a result of their size and economic importance, they are governed by elected state legislatures in addition to their Archdukes and Archduchesses. Areas The Areas, otherwise known as the 'Colonies', consist of South America, New Zealand, Japan (August 2010 - January 2018 ATB), and portions of Africa. They consist of states conquered by Britannia, for the most part corresponding to their pre-conquest borders, though in some cases small states and other non-state entities are leashed together for bureaucratic convenience. Any land of interest to Britannia is declared a 'Concession' and placed under direct Britannian control, usually for the purposes of Settlement construction. Concessions made directly to the person of the Emperor, or the Imperial Family, are called 'Providences.' Territory not ceded in this fashion is administered by collaborationist governing bodies, though they are answerable to the Imperial Viceroy or Vicereine. Areas are divided into three categories; Correctional, Developing, and Satellite. An Area gains greater autonomy as it proceeds through these categories, though it may be demoted to Correctional in the case of a serious setback. In Correctional and Developing Areas, the Viceroy acts as the Emperor's proxy, controlling the Area as all but an Absolute Monarch in his or her own right. This is considered necessary for efficient governance, but can also be a legal minefield, as shown in the case of Suzaku Kururugi (see Judiciary). The Areas also attract ill-feeling from other countries, especially the EU, which regards the Numbers as oppressed peoples and gives refuge to escapees. Major Cities and Settlements The Empire's Capital is located at the city of Pendragon. The Imperial Palace is located at the centre of the city, from which extends St Darwin Boulevard, to which the Palaces and Villas of the Imperial Consorts are connected. Pendragon is the Empire's political and administrative hub, as well as being the Capital in the symbolic sense, making control of it vital to the control of Britannia as a whole. The mountains surrounding the city are riddled with underground bunkers manned by combat units of the Imperial Guard. History The story of Britannia begins in the distant past, in a group of islands off the north-western coast of Europe. Some time between the 7th and the 1st century BC those islands came to be inhabited by a sub-group of a people whom history would call the Celts. Divided into various tribal groups, the Celts of ancient Britain possessed a civilization remarkably advanced for its time, with sophisticated agriculture, a system of wooden roads, and even metal coinage. This island world would see a period of dramatic change, begining in 55 BC with the arrival of Julius Caesar. Britain had been known in the classical world for centuries as a source of Tin, and was reputed to be a wealthy land; perhaps wealthy enough to be worth conquering. Caesar's first landing was more of a reconnaissance than an invasion, seeking to ascertain whether or not the Britons had been helping their Gallic cousins against him. He established a firm foothold, only to be forced to withdraw when bad weather in the English Channel threatened his supply lines. When he returned the next year with a larger force, it was ostensibly in support of Mandubracius, heir to the murdered King of the Trinovante tribe. Caesar defeated the warlord responsible, Cassivellaunus, and established Mandubracius as King of the Trinovantes; henceforth a loyal ally of Rome. Eowyn It is at this point that the man later known as Eowyn enters the pages of history. Whether he even existed remains controversial, and even his true name remains problematic. Much of what is 'known' about Eowyn was formalized in the early nineteenth century, at the behest of Emperor Ricardo of Britannia. Even the name is problematic, being Saxon in origin. Much like King Arthur, the 'Eowyn' of Britannian tradition may have been a single person, the combined exploits of multiple persons, or merely a legend. In Britannia he is nevertheless regarded as the first of a line of Romano-British Kings, thusly dubbed the Eowynids. Britannian tradition has Eowyn make his appearance in 55 BC, as a warlord leading the fight against Roman invasion. He is described as being a great war leader, whose courage and leadership united the Britons to throw back three Roman invasions. The illiteracy of the Britons means that the only alternative accounts are those written by Romans, often decades or even centuries later. The closest approximation in these accounts is a warlord of the Catuvellauni tribe known as Eudeyrn. The Romans note him as a subordinate of Cassivellaunus, and a respected warlord in his own right. He is described as speaking out against the peace deal of 54 BC, in some cases making loud denunciations of Rome. Eudeyrn enters the Roman narrative again in 48 BC, having succeeded Mandubracius as King of the Trinovantes. It is unclear whether this Eudeyrn is the same person, and no reliable evidence exists as to how he gained his position. Either way, he was to spend the next five years soldifying his power base and expanding his domain, bringing neighbouring tribes into a grand alliance by a mixture of force, threats, and persuasion. Eudeyrn's power was based to a great extent on his personal retinue of warriors, known as the 'Chosen Swords', or simply the Chosen. They are described by Roman accounts as wearing chainmail, carrying swords and shields, and fighting in disciplined units not unlike the Roman legionaries. The sources disagree as to their capabilities, but all agree that they were loyal to Eudeyrn, even unto death. Tacitus provides the most detailed description of their origins. In his account, Eudeyrn attempts to raise his Chosen from among the best of his people. Unaccustomed to the harsh, Roman-style discipline Eudeyrn imposes on them, most of the recruits prove unteachable. Undeterred, Eudeyrn resorts to recruiting boys, whom Tacitus describes as orphans or simply 'unwanted'; others are purchased from slave traders. These youths prove more receptive to Eudeyrn's ideas, and within a few years are molded into an elite force. But for all that It is unclear to what extent the Chosen were any match for the Roman Legions. Over time their capabilities have been greatly exaggerated, and disagreement remains as to their numbers, with estimates ranging from a few hundred to over ten thousand. They were nevertheless invaluable to Eudeyrn, for no other force in Britain could match them in open field. Backed by his Chosen, Eudeyrn was able to expand his territory (in part to pay the not-inconsiderable expense of their upkeep) and terrorize neighbouring tribes into accepting his leadership. Romana Civitas Sum The Romans would not return to Britain for almost a hundred years. Eudeyrn's domain appears to have survived in some shape or form, ruled over by King Addedomarus and later by his son Dubnovellaunus, whose existence has been confirmed by studies of contemporary coinage. Both are listed as descendants of Eowyn in the Britannian legend, though there is little evidence for any such connection. The kingdom's capital was at Camulodunum, modern Colchester. But return the Romans did, perhaps inevitably. In 43 AD Emperor Claudius dispatched a force of four legions under the command of Aulus Plautius to bring the Britons to heel. By this time the kingdom was under the leadership of Caratacus, son of the successful conqueror Cunobelinus. He failed to prevent Plautius landing his troops in Kent, a happenstance the legend blames on an argument with his brother Togodumnus. He nevertheless reacted quickly, marching his troops to face the Romans somewhere along the river Medway. It is at this point that events once again become confused. What is not in doubt is that a great battle took place, with the Romans emerging triumphant. The main point of contention is over the role and fate of Togodumnus. Some accounts have him die in the battle, but the Britannian legend has him survive and defect to the Romans, taking the name Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus. When Claudius himself arrived shortly afterwards, Cogidubnus swore allegience to Rome as King of the Britons, and was accepted as such by the triumphant Emperor. Caratacus continued his resistance for a time, but disappears from the historical record at around 51 BC. Legend has him survive in the wilderness, fathering a dynasty of true Britannian kings who would in later times reclaim their own. Rome's decision to retain the Eowynid Kingdom, as opposed to splitting it into smaller entities, was a turning point in British history. Though legions were stationed in Britannia to keep them honest, Cogidubnus and his descendants had a free hand to expand their territory into the 'barbarian' lands to the north and west. This they did with a policy not unlike that of their Roman overlords, combining outright conquest with clientage. High-status Britannians increasingly adopted Roman lifestyles, and sent their sons to Rome to be educated. The administration was expanded and improved along Roman lines, and the settling of Roman ''colonia ''on Britannian soil helped to spread Roman culture and values. This did not go without resistance. Of all the complications encountered by the Eowynid Kings of Britannia, the most recalcitrant was by far the druids. Described by the Romans as priests and judges both, little else is known about them with any certainty. Both Roman and Britannian accounts nevertheless put them at the centre of resistance to Eowynid rule, encouraging and helping to organise disobedience and even outright revolt. It is worth noting that the force sent to crush the druids in their stronghold at Ynys Mon (later Anglesey) was made up entirely of Romans, under the command of Suetonius Paulinus. Cogidumnus' own soldiers may have been unwilling to carry out the task themselves. The destruction of Ynys Mon marked the effective destruction of druidic culture, and the end of their role in resisting Roman and Eowynid rule. But it was the revolt of the Iceni tribe, located in what is now Norfolk, that would truly go down in history. It began with the death of Prasutagus, King of the Iceni and client of Cogidumnus. In the hope of preserving his kingdom, Prasutagus had willed it jointly to Emperor Nero, Cogidumnus, and his own two daughters. The Iceni territories were promptly overrun and incorporated into the Britannian kingdom, with Tacitus adding that Prasutagus' wife Boudicca was flogged and their daughters raped. The histories disagree over who precisely was responsible, but the affair seems to have been a joint effort by Romans and Britannians alike. The result was a full-scale revolt, first by the Iceni, then spreading across Britannia. Boudicca's followers ambushed and destroyed a Britannian army, and then a Roman legion sent to reinforce it, before proceeding to burn Camulodunum to the ground. Suetonius hurried back with his legions, but was unable to prevent the destruction of Londinium and Verulamium. The Britannian legend adds Caratacus to the tale, pleading with Boudicca to wait for his own followers to arrive before pursuing Suetonius. But Boudicca proves too proud and too angry to listen, and leads her troops to defeat and death. Supported by Rome, Britannian kings extended their rule to the north and east, even into the lands later known as Scotland. The Britannian legend claims that they came to rule the whole of the British Isles, including Ireland, but there is nothing to substantiate this. At the turning of the 4th and 5th centuries, these glory days came to an end. Weakened by civil wars, invasion, and economic and social strife, the western Roman empire had long been in decline. The legions were finally withdrawn some time in the first decade of the 5th century, leaving the Britannians to fend for themselves in an increasingly hostile world. Attacked by Picts from the north, 'Scoti' from Ireland, and Germanic and Scandinavian raiders from across the sea, Britannia entered its own long decline. The economy deteriorated as Imperial trade networks collapsed, and whole cities were abandoned as urban life ceased to be viable. The historian St Gildas, writing in the 6th century, gives the name of Britannia's ruler as Vortigern. Curiously Gildas does not name him as King, but rather as ''tyrannus superbus, implying him to be a usurper or warlord of some kind. The Britannian legend portrays him as a cruel and ineffectual tyrant, and mirrors Gildas by having him invite Saxon mercenaries to shore up his rule. Taking land in payment for their services, the Saxons established themselves in Britannia, along with others such as the Angles and Jutes. For whatever reason they turned on the Britannians, and carved out kingdoms of their own. Pendragon The two centuries that follow are shrouded in mystery, concealed from human knowledge by a lack of written records. The Britannian legend fills the gap in its own special way, with the exploits of the Pendragon dynasty; otherwise known as the Artorian dynasty, so-named for its most famous member. Placing the Arthur of song and story in real history is at best fraught with difficulty, at worst nigh-impossible. What is known is that the Britannians enjoyed a brief period of stability, despite Germanic invaders having overrun much of the country. This stability and success went so far as to allow the establishment of colonies in France and Spain. The legacy of the former, Armorica, lives on as modern Brittany. Britannian legend lays this golden age at the feet of Uther Pendragon, and his better-remembered son Arthur. Indeed, this period (or the stories told of it) can be said to form the basis of modern Britannian culture. The legend places Uther as the descendant of Caratacus, the deposed King of ancient Britannia. The tyrant Vortigern somehow became aware of Uther's heritage and sought to imprison him, but did not destroy him for fear of a curse from the wizard Merlin. Vortigern's death at the hands of the Saxons allowed Uther to escape into the wilderness, where over time he rose to become a leader of warriors. During his career he acquired the name Pendragon, a name which has itself attracted its fair share of storytelling. Some tales ascribed it to him owning a pet dragon, or being a tamer of dragons. One theory even claimed he had acquired the secret of Greek Fire from the distant eastern Roman empire. A simpler, but more likely theory ascribed it to his use of a dragon as his symbol. The origins of Uther's son Arthur are even less clear than his own. The Britannian legend puts him simply as the son of Uther by his wife Igraine, the 19th century version dismissing the more fanciful accounts as slander. Similarly much of the mythological content of his life, such as drawing Excalibur from the stone, was removed in the 'official' version. Nevertheless treated as fact are his marriage to Guinevere, his assembling of the Knights of the Round Table, his victory at Mount Badon (around 500 AD according to Gildas) and his death at the hands of Mordred at the Battle of Camlann. His death brought about the chaos and civil war described by Gildas, and the resultant collapse of what remained of Britannia. The Anglo-Saxons came to dominate the southern and eastern portion of Britannia, while the Britannians themselves lingered on to the north and west. These holdouts included Dumnonia in the south, the 'Welsh' kingdoms of Dyffed, Gwynned, and Powys in the west, and Elmet, Rheged, Goddodin, and Strathclyde further north. Some of these retained their independence from Saxon rule for many decades, but they were only ever a shadow of the Britannia that had once been. The Saxons enjoyed nearly three centuries of dominance, absorbing several of the Britannian successor kingdoms. These glory days came to an end as the ninth century began, as Scandinavian warriors launched plundering raids against the Saxon kingdoms. History would dub these maurauders 'Vikings', for the Norse term 'to go a-Viking', meaning a trading or plundering expedition. Between their legendary seamanship and their excellent ships, they could strike and retreat as they pleased, even sailing up rivers to attack villages and towns that thought themselves safe. Neither the divided Saxons nor the weakened Britannians could stop them, and by 867 they had overrun the Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, and would go on to conquer much of the country for themselves. Only in the reign of Alfred the Great of Wessex, from 871 to 899, did the Saxons finally turn the tide. For all his victories, Alfred's true legacy was something far greater. It was a country called England As the fortunes of the Saxons waxed and waned, the last Britannians clung on in distant places. Of these holdouts, the largest was a kingdom known to history as Alt Clut, but whose rulers called it Britannia. Located in Strathclyde, this last remnant was well-placed to avoid the worst attentions of the Saxons. Doubtless many of the Britannian refugees who ended up there hoped that it might prove the launchpad for an eventual reclaimation of the entire country. But with the Saxons to the south, the Picts to the north-east, the Gaels of Dal Riata to the west, the rival Britannian holdout of Goddoddin to the east, Alt-Clut had more immediate problems. The Britannians had to wait for their time to come, but come it did. As Viking power waned, the rulers of Strathclyde saw their chance. They expanded their lands at the Vikings' expense, acquiring the Britonnic-speaking Cumbria to the south. Though they lost some northern territory to the newly-founded Kingdom of Alba, the Britannians managed to expand further to the south and west, their borders reaching to the River Tyne. This, invariably, brought the revived Britannia into conflict with the rising power of England. How Britannia found the strength to resist the Vikings, let alone overrun a considerable portion of their territory, remains unclear. Contemporary accounts describe an army not much different from those of the English and the Vikings, and some hint that the Britannians marched alongside Viking allies. The Britannian legend even claims that some Viking warlords swore allegience to Britannia's Kings. A possible explanation is religious conflict, with both the legend and other accounts claiming that these particular Vikings were Celtic Christians, as opposed to the Roman Catholicism of the English and the Paganism still preferred by many Vikings. It is equally likely that the Britannians merely took advantage of a weakened, divided Danelaw. Sic Transit Gloria Britannia would gain even more with the accession of Edward the Elder to the throne of Wessex in 899 AD. Doubtless preferring to have Britannia as an ally than an enemy, Edward offered the hand of his daughter Eadhild to Britannia's new King, Malcolm. Their marriage in 924, the first of many intermarriages between the two Royal families, did not merely bind Britannia and Wessex together as allies. It also sowed the seeds for the long dreamed-of revival of the ancient Kingdom of Britannia. Edward died that same year, replaced by his son Aethelstan. Together, the royal brothers-in-law expanded their respective kingdoms at the expense of the Vikings, with the river Tees becoming the shared border. Both fought side by side at the epic battle of Brunanburh against the Scots and their Viking allies, their victory stabilising the land, but leaving them militarily weakened. Though both suffered Norse raids from time to time, relations remained relatively stable until the reign of Aethelred the Unready, beginning in 978. His failures as King were many, but perhaps the worst was ordering the massacre of all Danish men in England on St Brice's Day in 1002. This deed provoked, or was a convenient excuse for, King Svein 'Forkbeard' of Denmark to invade in 1013. Aethelred proved as ineffective on the battlefield as on the throne, and he fled to France. His son Edmund, disgusted by his father's weakness, chose to remain and carry on the fight; his valour earning him the nickname 'Ironside'. He established himself in the Midlands, and sought help from Britannia to the north. Svein died in 1014, and his son Cnut was forced to withdraw to Denmark when Aethelred returned with an army. But Edmund's anger still burned, and he defied his father by marrying the widow Ealdgyth, who was reputed to be of Royal Britannian blood. Father and son squared off, but the timing proved fatal, as Cnut launched his own invasion in 1015, overruning much of the country. Aethelred fled once again, and Edmund took up the fight alongside his principal ally, King Duncan of Britannia. Both fought hard, but Cnut was his father's equal in the skills of war, and many Saxons accepted his rule, preferring his strength to Aethelred's weakness and incompetence. When the armies faced off one last time at Assandun in October of 1016, it was Cnut who emerged victorious. With Duncan dead, and his army destroyed, a sick and dying Edmund accepted a peace treaty which allowed him to retain Wessex, though with Cnut as his heir. His death the next month left Cnut as King of the whole of England, whose resources he promplty turned against Britannia. By 1020 he had conquered up to the Scottish border, and although his line would not outlast him long, he would be remembered as Cnut the Great. After Cnut's death in 1035, the newly-unifed England was ruled-over by his sons Harold Harefoot and Harthacnut until the latter's death in 1042. The beneficiary was Edward, son of Aethelred the Unready and his second wife Emma of Normandy, who had married Cnut after her husband's death. This made him the half-brother of not only Edmund Ironside, but Harold Harefoot and Harthacnut. Edward used this to maximum effect, presenting himself as an Englishman to the English and a Britannian to the Britannians. He further deepened his connection to his Britannian subjects by marrying Enid, a Britannian princess and daughter of the late King Duncan. This highly symbolic event helped stabilise relations between the English, Britannian, and Scandinavian communities, continuing the work of Cnut. Harold Godwinson But all was not well around the throne of England. The most powerful man after Edward was Godwin, Earl of Wessex. A consummate survivor, Godwin had been a loyal servant of Aethelred, then Cnut, and both of his sons. Edward had reason to be suspicous of Godwin, for he was widely suspected of having murdered his older brother Alfred, a charge Godwin always denied. Godwin in turn had reason to worry, for when Edward returned from exile in Normandy he brought with him many Norman courtiers and followers, to whom he gave lands and important positions. In 1045 Godwin asserted himself by persuading or forcing Edward to divorce his wife Enid, who had failed to bear him a child, and replace her with his own daughter Edith. Rumours abounded that Enid had borne Edward a son, who had been spirited away lest Godwin have him killed. The truth may never be known. Edward neither forgot nor forgave the humiliation, and tensions simmered for a further six years in which he failed or refused to impregnate Edith. He made his move against Godwin in 1051, staging a fight between the people of Dover and the retinue of his brother-in-law, Count Eustace of Boulougne. Forced to choose between disobeying his King and punishing his own people with fire and sword, Godwin chose rebellion, only to flee to Flanders when the uprising fizzled. Edward's victory did not last long, for Godwin returned the next year with an army, and the King's support evaporated. Deprived of his Norman courtiers and reduced to little more than a puppet King, Edward turned increasingly to religion. He would forever afterwards be known as 'the Confessor.' Godwin did not long enjoy his victory. He died in 1053, replaced as Earl of Wessex and foremost over-mighty subject by his son Harold Godwinson, much to the annoyance of Edward's Britannian subjects. They had not forgotten the way Enid had been treated, and many may have believed in the rumoured son and heir. Their ill-feeling was made all the worse by the rule of Harold's brother Tostig, made Earl of Northumbria in 1055. Heavy-handed and greedy, Tostig alienated Britannian, Saxon, and Dane alike. When in 1065 the Northumbrian lords rebelled against Tostig, Britannians supported them in great numbers. Faced with civil war, Harold put the good of the kingdom above brotherly love, and Tostig fled to Scandinavia, vowing revenge The Normans. But if the Britannians resented the power of Harold Godwinson, this was as nothing to the hatred he provoked in William, Duke of Normandy. Regarding himself as the rightful heir to Edward's throne, William had in 1064 managed to extract an oath of support from Harold, reputedly on holy relics and almost certainly under duress. When Edward died in 1066, Harold broke his oath and accepted the crown. He readied himself to resist a Norman invasion, but the first challenge came in the north, when King Harald Hardrada of Norway landed a fleet of three-hundred ships at Tynemouth. Supported by the exiled Tostig and his followers, Harald sought to take the throne of England for himself. Harold rushed north, and miraculously managed to defeat and kill both Harald and Tostig at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. When William landed in Kent, Harold came south to face him, only to die in battle at Hastings. William was crowned King of England in December, but it would take many years before England was pacified under his rule. As England was governed by the Norman and later the Plantagenet dynasties, the name of Britannia would be lost to history. The English would later claim the figure of Arthur for themselves, his story retold by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the twelfth century. His account includes many elements taken for granted in Arthurian stories, such as his fathering by Uther Pendragon upon Igraine under cover of Merlin's magic, his marriage with Guinevere, and his death at the hands of his nephew Mordred at Camlann. Other popular elements, such as the city of Camelot, the Round Table, and Mordred as Arthur's son by his sister Morgan le Fay, were added in the romances of later centuries; by such contributors as Thomas Malory, Chretien du Troyes, and even Geoffrey Chaucer. But the Neo-Britannian kingdom that survived for nearly five hundred years largely vanished from history, its Royal line lost along with that of Wessex, its people and culture absorbed into a greater whole. It lingered on in song and story, and in the traditions of a handful of noble families. Eight centuries would pass before the Britannian Legend would have a chance to express itself. The Plantagenet dynasty ruled England from 1126 to 1485, when King Richard III met his end at the Battle of Bosworth Field. His replacement as King, Henry Tudor, was the first of what would prove a mighty dynasty. He was succeeded in 1491 by his son Henry VIII, whose long and tumultuous reign would see England remove itself from the Roman Catholic Church. He in turn was succeeded by his son Edward VI in 1547, who is remembered primarily for his extreme Protestantism, and his attempt to remove his half-sisters from the succession in favour of the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey. His death by tuberculosis in 1553 brought his half-sister Mary to the throne, who sought to reverse his religious reforms in favour of Roman Catholicism. It is for her ruthless brutality in this cause that she is remembered, perhaps unfairly. She was succeeded in 1558 by her half-sister Elizabeth, who in the course of her reign managed to stabilise England and lead it to power and prosperity. The Tudors It was during Mary I's reign that the name of Britannia rose once again, in the form of Charles de Bretan. His precise origins are unclear, but his was one of many noble families who claimed some connection to ancient Britannia. Like many of the northern nobles he was a Catholic, and he professed undying devotion to Mary. But he was also ambitious, and when Mary commanded in 1558 that he marry her Protestant sister Elizabeth, Charles jumped at the chance. Mary was dying, and the marriage was a last-ditch attempt to preserve her re-Catholicisation of England. But despite this, Mary had no intention of allowing Charles to bcome King of England, as a letter to Elizabeth shows; ...he shall not have from my hand the crown of England, and I charge you never to grant it. For he is of that northern race that were Kings in ancient time, and doth fancy himself a King in my kingdom. The marriage went ahead, and Charles sought to strengthen his position by getting Elizabeth pregnant. This he failed to do, leading to rumours both of his own impotence and that Elizabeth was using various underhand means to prevent pregnancy. He eventually succeeded in impregnating Elizabeth, but too late, for Mary died in November of 1558; Elizabeth was subsequently crowned Queen in her own right, with the pregnancy remaining unconfirmed until several weeks later. Elizabeth gave birth to a healthy son in August of 1559, naming him Henry. Charles was permitted only once to see the child, and would have no part in his upbringing. Slighted and humiliated, Charles sought to avenge himself and gain the power he felt was his right by other means. But he found little support among his fellow Catholic nobles, many of whom felt they could do his job much better themselves. Thomas Howard, Earl of Norfolk, is said to have mockingly dubbed him the 'Duke of Britannia', referring both to his boasted heritage and to the Ducal title he had recieved upon marrying Elizabeth. But the real contender for his place was Robert Dudley, Elizabeth's childhood friend and confidante, whom she favoured with titles and postings in the Royal household. When Elizabeth created him Earl of Leicester in August 1564, as part of Prince Henry's birthday celebrations, Charles could take no more. He staged an uprising in April of 1565, using forged Commissions of Array to illegally raise troops; only for the rising to fizzle when Thomas Howard, then Lord Lieutenant of the North, ordered the soldiers to stand down. Charles was killed while attempting to cross the Scottish border. Despite his treason, Elizabeth showed mercy to his family by not attainting any of them. A lingering complication in Elizabeth's reign was her relationship with her son. Henry had inherited his mother's formidable intellect and his grandfather's hot blood; a dangerous combination at the best of times. Born in the year of her coronation, he would wait forty-five years to ascend the throne, a delay he endured with a remarkable grace and patience. But for all that, there was tension aplenty between mother and son, though not over any great difference of opinion, or any wrong that Elizabeth might have done Henry. As William Cecil once quipped, the dread lieth not in their enmity, but in their likeness; ''mother and son were simply too similar to get along peacefully. Nevertheless, Elizabeth was broadly able to manage her brilliant and increasingly restless son, usually by the expedience of slowly expanding his responsibilities. The most significant of these was responsibility for overseeing the settling and maintenance of overseas colonies, a cause he pursued with great enthusiasm. The Golden Age Elizabeth would face many challenges in the course of her long reign. Of those, among the most significant was the threat posed by Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. Mary regarded herself as the rightful Queen of England as well as Scotland, a claim in which she enjoyed the enthusiastic support of the Papacy. It was feared by many in England that Mary would use Scotland as a springboard for an invasion, backed by French and possibly even Spanish forces. This never materialized, due in part to Mary's difficulties in bringing her fractious kingdom under control, while France and Spain had plans of their own for England. Mary was ultimately let down by a combination of naivete and desire, leading her to unwise choices in friends, lovers, and husbands. Her second husband - her cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley - was by all accounts a drunken wastrel with a penchant for domestic violence, whose only meaningful contribution was fathering Mary's heir, James. Mary was later implicated in her husband's death in February of 1567, and in April of that year she was abducted by her current suitor and ally - James Hepburn, Lord Bothwell - and taken to his castle at Dunbar. A month later they were married, leading to a revolt led by Mary's half-brother, James Stuart, Earl of Moray. Having captured Mary and forced Bothwell into exile, James declared himself Regent with the support of Scotland's Presbyterian nobles; the Lords of the Congregation. Elizabeth's reign is remembered as a great success. She successfully steered her country through forty-five difficult and vulnerable years, seeing off multiple rebellions and at least one major invasion attempt. Henry took the throne on his mother's death in 1603, by which point he was already married and the father of three children. His Queen was Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of the Earl of Moray, giving him and his descendents a blood tie to the throne of Scotland; a choice that had not sat well with his mother. Henry IX's reign is remembered primarily for colonial expansion. Under his rule English colonies and trading posts in North America and India were expanded, and a large-scale programme of colonisation begun in Ireland; this was known as the 'Plantation of Ulster'. North America was colonised in a series of individual efforts, led by a mixture of private individuals and companies. The most famous of these was the Virginia Company, which established Henrytown in 1604 as part of their Virginia colony. The success rate of these early colonies was mixed, but Henry's determination drove the project on, to the point of personally financing several Carribbean colonies. Experiments in the cultivation of cash crops such as sugar and tobacco proved highly profitable, providing the Crown with a lucrative source of income. It is in this context that Henry's reign took a dark turn. One problem that had consistently dogged colonisation of the New World was a shortage of willing manpower. Europeans had been travelling to North America throughout his and his mother's reigns in a steady trickle; their number included religious minorities such as the Puritans, the latter best remembered for those who arrived in 1620 aboard the ''Mayflower. ''Though some were willing to accept the authority of the English Crown, they were not enough to meet England's needs. During his mother's reign Henry had found two methods to be effective, and he expanded both during his own reign. One was to offer incentives, such as money or land; a policy Henry limited to would-be colonists with vital skills due to the expense involved. The other was the enforced transportation of convicted criminals, a practice Henry would come to depend on. He greatly expanded the number of crimes punishable by transportation, until his laws were popularly known as the 'Sail Code'. The experience of these unfortunates depended on the severity of their crimes. Those convicted of lesser offences, such as theft or vagrancy, would step off the ships as free men, able to seek their own fortunes. Those found guilty of more serious crimes were sent as indentured labour, regarded even at the time as slavery by any other name. 'Crown and Commonwealth' By the time Henry died in 1625, England was a prosperous and powerful state, one of Europe's rising stars. But success concealed deep-rooted and festering divisions, both political and religious. As the threat of invasion receded, the unity of English and Scottish Protestantism began to break down as old divisions resurfaced. Though the Anglican Church encompassed a broad majority, there existed a substantial and growing minority of more extreme Protestants, notably the Puritans. They rejected the religious settlement the Church represented; its bishops, vestments,and ceremonies were a little too Catholic for their liking. Their ill-feeling was given greater vehemence by a regular stream of horror stories from Europe, itself in the grip of a series of conflicts that would come to be known as the Thirty Years War. Hard-line Protestants were outraged by reports of atrocities against their co-religionists, and infuriated by the unwillingness of Crown or Parliament to do anything about it. To many, the only possible answer was a Catholic conspiracy at the heart of government. The ascension of Henry's son Edward to the throne in 1625 brought this conflict to the surface. Edward was different from his father and grandmother in many respects. A childhood spent caught in the middle between his parents and his formidable grandmother had bred in him a tendency to be charming, to tell others what they wanted to hear in order to extricate himself from hard choices. This could be useful at times, but it also gained him a reputation for being two-faced and untrustworthy. He had a horror of conflict, and recoiled from what he saw as the bigotry and intolerance of the hardliners, taking refuge in the colour and ritual of high-church Christianity. Worse, in the eyes of hardliners, was his support for Charles I, then King of Scotland. The two Kings were second cousins via their grandparents - Mary Queen of Scots and her half-brother James - and brothers-in-law via Charles' sister Margaret, who married Edward in 1615. Charles, like his father James VI, sought to rule as an absolute monarch, and shared Edward's high-church tastes. This, along with his marriage to the French Princess Henrietta Maria, put him at odds with hardline Protestants in Scotland. The other centre of resistance to the Crown was Parliament, an insitution whose power had grown over the past century. By this point it was bicameral, with the nobility being represented in the House of Lords and everyone else being represented in the House of Commons. In practice, the Commons were represented by a relative minority of rural gentry, elected via a limited franchise system developed in the 13th century. It could only be summoned by the King, and its primary purpose was to levy new taxes, granting the Crown revenue far in excess of what it could normally collect. The Commons had come to realise their importance over the years; the gentry in particular were the only ones with the authority and ability to collect new taxes at the local level. When combined with new religious and policial ideals rising from the Reformation and the Renaissance respectively, the Parliamentarians began to get ideas. These included the notion, radical at the time, that Parliament should meet continously whether the King summoned it or not. Even more radical was the idea that the King should be able to pass no new laws of any kind without Parliament's consent. The stage was set for a clash of personalities and ideals, with tragic consequences for all concerned. Edward found himself faced with a Parliament that protested loyalty while barraging him with demands he found both unreasonable and insulting. These included the dismissal of many of his closest servants and allies, an end to his high church policies, and that he give up his Carribbean monopolies. The latter was particularly important, for it was the one thing allowing Edward to govern without Parliamentary taxes, as well as maintaining the guard regiments left to him by his father. Edward responded by dismissing Parliament in 1629 and ruling alone for eleven years. The crisis came in 1638, when Scottish Presbyterians formed a 'National Covenant' and rose in arms against Charles. Forced to flee to England with his family and closest supporters, Charles turned to Edward for help, But Edward did not have the funds to raise a large enough army to oppose the Covenanters, and was forced to summon Parliament in 1640. Parliament proved less than sympathetic, with many MPs siding openly with the Covenanters. Far from voting money and troops to support Charles, they raised a case against Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, Edward's Lord Lieutenant in Ireland, who commanded the only real army at Edward's disposal. When an attempted impeachment failed for lack of evidence, Pym resorted to an Act of Attainder, which needed less evidence but required the King's seal. Edward initially refused, unwilling to destroy a loyal and capable servant on the basis of hearsay. His resistance confirmed all of Parliament's suspicions, while Parliament's determination to destroy Strafford confirmed all of Edward's prejudices in turn. In the end Strafford wrote to Edward asking him to sign the attainder, and condem him to death for the unity of nation. Edward would neither forgive nor forget. Strafford's execution in 1641 sparked off of a full-scale uprising in Ireland. The revolt began as a coup attempt by Catholic Irish gentry, such as Phelim O'Neill and Rory O'Moore; their goal was to gain control of Ireland and negotiate for religious toleration and legal equality between the native Irish, the Catholic 'Old English' and the Protestant 'New English.' The authorities in Dublin over-reacted, convinced that it heralded a general uprising by Catholic Irish against Protestant settlers. The brutality of their response merely widened the confrontation, and the prophecy became self-fulfilling as Catholic peasants attacked Protestant settlers; generally robbing and expelling them, in some cases killing them. The death toll is thought to have reached around twelve thousand, but English and Scottish pamphleteers put the number at anything up to two hundred thousand. The killings provoked a wave of hysteria throughout England, and whatever calming effect had arisen from Strafford's execution was undone. Amid the hysteria arose old stories of indestructible men, and witches with mind-controlling powers. In January 1641 Edward attempted to arrest five Parliamentary leaders, only to discover that they had fled. Fearing for his and his family's lives, Edward fled the city and met up with his guard regiments, which Parliament had forbidden him to bring into London. Seeing no alternative, Edward raised the Royal standard at Nottingham. The English Civil War had begun. War without an Enemy The English Civil War was a slow starter. Large pitched battles were comparatively rare in the early years, with much of the violence consisting of small-scale local clashes; in many cases little more than gang-fights. With their armies numbering only around 15,000 men each, neither side was willing to risk all on a decisive engagement. The first pitched battle, at Edgehill in October of 1642, was an indecisive affair. During 1643, Yorkshire and the West Country emerged as the major theatres of war; located as they were between the Royalist heartland of the North, Wales, and Cornwall, and the Parliamentarian heartland of London and much of the south. Edward rather cautiously kept his main army at Oxford, at the centre of a Royalist salient. On the whole, the major cities tended to favour Parliament, while rural areas favoured the King. 1643 saw a gradual shift in territory as both sides sought to consolidate their heartlands and isolate enemy territories. The Royalists consolidated their position in Wales, and secured the West Country through to Cornwall; creating a Royalist crescent from northern Wales down to the south coast. Meanwhile, the Parliamentarians managed to push north and take Lancashire, cutting the Royalists off from their territory in the north and north-east. All the while, the war remained a curiously genteel affair; as both sides sought to end the war by negotiation. Even relatively hardline Parliamentarians sought to keep the King on his throne, while Edward knew that his best hope of reestablishing acceptable civil government after the war was with the cooperation of Parliament. This only added to the general indecisiveness of the conflict, and stoked frustration in certain quarters. The tribulations of the Parliamentarian cause saw the rise of one of the great names in Britannian history, Oliver Cromwell. A Puritan MP who had fought in the war from the beginning, Cromwell had no time for the endless squabbling of the Parliamentarian leadership. Unlike most of them, he understood that the Royalists believed in monarchy and were willing to fight and die for it, giving them an advantage over the disunited Parlimentarian forces. His answer was to create an organised, professional army, with hardline Puritanism as its ideological glue. Cromwell first tested these ideas with his own regiment of cavalry, dubbed the 'Ironsides.' Combining the dash and valour of the Royalist cavalry with iron discipline and religious fervour, they swept all before them. This approach was expanded to the entire army in 1645, when Parliament established the 'New Model Army', with Cromwell as second-in-command. The New Model saw its first major victory at Naseby, forcing Edward to retreat north while the New Model conquered Royalist territory in the south-west. A subsequent victory at Langport destroyed the last Royalist field army. Edward was forced to flee north, and spent the next year vainly attempting to replenish his forces. In May of 1646, he surrendered himself to a Scottish Covenanter army in Nottinghamshire. To the Parliamentarians, it must have seemed like victory. But it was not to be. Edward's cousin Charles remained free, and was even then in secret negotiation with the Covenanters. Fearful of being sidelined by the hardline Puritan faction growing amid the Parliamentarians, the Covenanters signed a treaty with Charles in December of 1647, agreeing to restore him to his throne in return for religious freedom. Despite this, Charles had difficulty in convincing his people to attack England on behalf of his cousin. His desire to do so was driven as much by dynastic ambitions as a sense of loyalty to Edward, as his son Charles was betrothed to Edward's youngest sister Elizabeth. But the Scots were war-weary, and reluctant to invade England for the sake of a King who did not share their faith; even if that King's enemies were little better. It would take a drastic turn of events in England to change their minds. For Parliament, the growing influence of Puritan hardliners was bad enough. But a new force was rising in the shadow of the New Model Army, and gaining an ever greater hold over the Puritan movement. It was a group of officers, theologians, and political thinkers, who sought to reconcile the reformist zeal of the Puritans with the practical necessities of government. Coming to be known as the Conclave of Saints, or simply the Conclave, their plan was to take total control of the country, and reorganise it into a perfect society in which a purified church and a godly state were one and the same, and every man was equal under God. Their ideas won them support in the New Model Army, and they took advantage of the suffering wrought by the war to build a popular militia of sorts, known simply as the Poor Men. Edward's capture in 1646 was a turning point for the Conclave, who called loudest of all for the death of the King. Their numbers alone made them difficult to ignore, but the willingness of the Poor Men to riot on their behalf made them downright dangerous. Suspicious, but realising that he could not afford to fight the Conclave, Cromwell went along with their policy. Edward was put on trial, charged with personal responsibility for all the death and destruction inflicted by the war. The death toll is thought to have been around three hundred thousand, or six per cent of the population. Perhaps knowing that he was doomed, with a mob of Poor Men surrounding the High Court of Justice, Edward did not even offer a plea. Needless to say he was found guilty, in a trial that was by both contemporary and modern standards a farce, and executed by beheading on August 10, 1647. His death sent shockwaves across a Europe nigh-inured to bloodshed by the horrors of the Thirty Years War. None was more horrified than his cousin Charles, who is said to have turned deathly pale and collapsed in his seat upon hearing the news. This, combined with word of the excesses of the Conclave and the Poor Men, was finally enough to win the support of the Scottish Parliament, and the people, for war against England. Rule of the Bishops The war proved a disaster for the Scots. Despite the horror at Edward's execution, and widespread fears of possible English aggression, neither the Scottish Parliament nor Charles' advisors could agree on the best course of action. As a result, the Scottish invasion of April 1648 was a confused, overly-cautious affair; despite the best efforts of its leader, the Crown Prince Charles. The Scottish army was large and comparatively well-armed, but political divisions between its commanders, especially between Covenanters and former Royalists such as the Marquis of Montrose, weakened its cohesion. Contradictory orders from Edinburgh led to slow progress; though Charles was able to persuade the traditionally Royalist city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne to open its gates to him. This was ironic, for the city had twice endured capture by the Scots since the beginning of the crisis; first in 1640, and again in 1644 after a seven-month siege. Cromwell responded by marching north at the head of the New Model Army, defeating the Scots near Durham and forcing them to retreat north. In no mood to besiege Newcastle, Cromwell bypassed the city and pursued the Scots, destroying their army at Dunbar and taking Edinburgh shortly afterwards. King Charles and his family were forced to flee abroad. As Cromwell mopped up in Scotland, and turned his attentions to Ireland, the Conclave continued to grow in power. Taking advantage of its ability to intimidate Parliament and raise popular agiitation, the Conclave took effective control of the Church of England, executing or imprisoning any clergy who refused to cooperate. Church and state were reorganised, with all civic and religious authority being centralised in the traditional Bishoprics (and new Bishoprics established where necessary). The Conclave's members took the title of Bishop for themselves; justifying it on the basis that it was a title used by the early pre-Roman Church. Though Parliament was technically the highest authority in the land, by 1651 the Conclave had taken effective control of the administrative structure of England; and would soon do the same for Scotland and Ireland. The British Isles would be, by the middle of the 1650s, under the control of an organised theocracy. Cromwell's campaign in Ireland is by far his most notorious, and is remembered primarily for the siege (and subsequent massacre) of the town of Drogheda, from 3rd to 11th September 1649. Despite fierce resistance, and considerable losses to hunger and disease - made worse by his army's primitive logistical system - Cromwell brought Ireland under effective control by 1652. Even then, this was facilitated by allowing Irish soldiers to seek employment abroad, in any army not currently at war with the Commonwealth of England. It was at that point that Cromwell began to truly realise the depth of the Conclave's ambitions. Though he approved of its efficient organisation and many of its goals, he was unsettled by some of its more extreme activities; including the banning of Christmas and various public entertainments. Rumours that the Conclave was reorganising the Poor Men into a formal army under its own control finally drew Cromwell back to London. He spent the next year attempting to rally Parliament and moderate the Conclave's activities, all to no avail. On 20 April 1653 the Conclave finally made its move, ordering soldiers to arrest Cromwell and shut down Parliament. As he was arrested Cromwell made his last, great speech; ''You say you are saints and righteous men, keepers of the peace of England. You who have made God a tyrant, Christ the jailor of mankind, and his holy word a lash upon the backs of honest men. You are no saints. I say you are no saints, nor righteous men. May God have mercy on us, and save us from you. Oliver Cromwell, one of the most unlikely and arguably among the greatest generals and statesmen in British history, was unceremoniously executed two days later. The rule of the Conclave would continue for seven more years; a period regarded as one of the darkest in British and Britannian history. Without the political instincts of Cromwell, or someone like him, no one remained to stand between the Conclave and its ideals of a perfect, godly society. This, as much as anything else, would prove its downfall. Though later comparisons to totalitarianism are exaggerated, the Conclave's interest could reach almost every aspect of daily life, with local Bishops having almost complete discretion to act as they saw fit. Royalist plots, both real and imagined, were a constant concern, and some Bishops were known to have burned whole villages in order to stamp them out. Even without this, ordinary people were annoyed by the endless interferance of the Conclave in their daily lives, backed as it was by the power of life and death. Traditional celebrations and feast days were forbidden, as were activities such as gambling, drinking alcohol, attending theatres, wrestling, and horse-racing. Death penalty offences included atheism, blasphemy, holding 'obscene' opinions, and even adultery. Return of the King A backlash was all but inevitable, and the signs were clear by 1658. The Conclave's army, on which it depended to maintain control, was overgrown, ideologically contaminated, and growing mutinous. The remaining nobility found themselves under increasing suspicion, as the most likely leaders of a revolt. But the real symbol of resistance, and the Conclave's eventual downfall, was a mysterious figure known as John Dash. Like many such figures, such as Robin Hood or Ned Ludd, he may have been nothing but a legend. But at the time he was linked to a rash of attacks on the Conclave, which included the assassination of Bishops, and the burning of Churches, tithe barns, and Bishop's Palaces. The Conclave reacted in the only way it knew how, lashing out in paranoid rage. Even Conclave members, those moderates regarded as dangerous backsliders by the hardliners, were not safe. John Dash's identity, assuming he even existed, remains a mystery. As for his motives, many different stories circulated. Of these, the most popular was that he was an orphan boy, taken in by a noble family who were secret Royalists. A visiting Bishop tricked or terrorized young John Dash into telling all he knew, leading the Bishop to burn the family's house and massacre all inside. Only John Dash and the lord's daughter escaped, only for her to die in the snow. The story is fanciful, but not entirely incredible. Several such 'police actions' took place at that time, as Bishops lashed out at noble families judged politically unreliable. This had the effect of radicalising the nobility, and driving them to rebellion. The eventual leader of the resistance, and the object of all its hopes, was Charles Stuart, son of King Charles I of Scotland, and husband of Elizabeth Tudor, the rightful Queen of England. By this point the couple were holed up in the Netherlands, the centre of a small but growing Royalist exile movement, and plotting his eventual return. Charles I had died, some say of a broken heart, shortly after his arrival in exile. But their resources were limited, and the Conclave's assassins relentless. The man who truly made their return possible was General George Monck, commander of the Conclave's Army of Scotland. Originally a Royalist, and later a friend of Cromwell, Monck had survived the Conclave's suspicious attentions by carefully cultivating the image of a blunt, ale-swilling soldier's soldier; a man too stupid and simple-minded to pose a threat. But this image concealed a shrewd political mind, and a deep-rooted sense of honour. Like many of his fellow generals, he was growing weary of the Conclave's tyranny and incompetence, and fearful of the civil disorder that its seemingly inevitable collapse would unleash. Monck was finally driven to action when a series of arrests and executions in August of 1659 led to riots across southern Scotland. The seniormost Bishop in Scotland, a certain Martin Auldon, ordered Monck to put down the riots. Mo''re to come'' New Empire for Old If the old Britain's story had come to an end, the new Britannia's story was just beginning. From her new capital at Caerleon, Elizabeth worked to bring North America into line, though many problems were rapidly becoming apparent. Though she had around 20,000 regular troops available, they tended to be poorly-trained raw recruits; all better units having been transferred to the British Isles years earlier. She could also raise around 40,000 militia, but these varied considerably in their capabilities; ranging from the excellent colonial dragoons - kept in practice by hunting down troublemakers and keeping order on the frontier - to the generally poor infantry battalions. A steady stream of loyalists and other refugees followed her into exile, but these tended to be nobles; the first wave being mostly penniless unfortunates fleeing for their lives, while those after 1813 were embittered emigrants bringing their property with them. Ricardo swiftly established himself as Elizabeth's Chancellor and right-hand man, drawing on local connections and his own resources to establish a functioning government. Indeed, Elizabeth's palace outside Caerleon was Ricardo's own residence, built there at great expense during his sojourn there in the 1780s. The new government was, needless to say, packed with Ricardo's own partisans; a mixture of British nobles and local dignitaries he had established relationships with over the years. On October 18th, 1813, Empress Elizabeth III breathed her last, surrounded by her most senior courtiers. To the shock of her blood relatives present, she named Ricardo as her successor. Ricardo responded with an extraordinary declaration; distributed all over British North America. He declared that the old kingdom was dead and gone, burned to ash in the fires of war and revolution. It's failure, he added, was due to having abandoned the ancient customs of old Britannia in favour of new-fangled modernity, which could only end in the kind of blood-drenched ideological madness that had tormented France for so many years. The only way forward was to return to the ways of honour and chivalry, to create an ordered society in which every man knew his place and was content in it. His new society would be a holy empire, based on divinely-ordained authority answerable to none but God. He was Emperor Ricardo, and this new continent would be known forevermore as the Holy Empire of Britannia. Needless to say, this social and ideological revolution did not go without resistance. The first backlash came from other court factions, generally centred around Elizabeth's surviving relatives. Though there was no Imperial Guard at this stage, Ricardo had several knightly orders at his disposal; chief among them the Round Table. Led by Sir Richard Hector, these knights moved swiftly against Ricardo's enemies, killing dozens in a single night. Those of Elizabeth's relations not killed were forced to flee, some of them all the way back to Britain. Riots broke out in many towns and cities; some of them demanding independence, others professing loyalty to King Michael. All such resistance was bloodily suppressed, to the point that by time of Ricardo's magnificent coronation in June of 1814, Britannia appeared entirely pacified. The coronation itself was a glittering Arthurian pageant, with the new Emperor riding through Caerleon accompanied by armoured knights and attendants dressed in costumes that owed more to Chretien de Troyes or Sir Walter Scott than real history. The spectacle was nevertheless enough to win over the citizenry, at least for a time; and Ricardo soon followed up with a full-scale declaration of intent. In a lavish demonstration before his courtiers, Ricardo laid out his intentions for the future empire; a programme of westward expansion that would bring the entire continent under Britannian rule. Dazzled by the prospect of land and wealth beyond imagining, the nobles fell over themselves to pledge their wealth to Ricardo's cause. The first target of Ricardo's expansion plan was the French colony of Louisiana. Despite its considerable size, it was sparsely populated, and unable to resist the advance of Ricardo's army. Louisiana was overrun in a series of lightning campaigns, causing Britannia to effectively double in size in three years. The process of entirely securing and populating the former Louisiana territories took much longer. Ricardo was quick to divide up the land, granting vast estates to his loyal nobles. Thousands of commoners were persuaded to move west in order to populate the new estates; lured with the promise of land, and bound to that land with legal indentures that reduced them to little better than serfdom. The slaveowning nobles of the southern territories were, in turn, persuaded to convert their slaves into serfs by similar means. This process did not always go smoothly, meeting resistance both from slaveowners and from local commoners, who regarded any improvement in the status of the slaves - no matter how limited - as offensive and dangerous. That they also faced reduction to serfdom only made their ill-feeling worse. This gradually fed into a burgeoning resistance movement, concentrated primarily in the southern territories but with adherents in most areas. Their goal was nothing less than the overthrow of Ricardo and the establishment of a Republic; the fulfullment of the promise of 1774. Determined to avoid the mistakes of the previous attempt, this revolutionary movement was highly organised and secretive in the extreme. Its members were organised into cells at the local level, with little or no knowledge of any other cells or their activities. Higher-ranking members moved between cells and safehouses, providing information and training. Cells in urban areas tended to focus on subversion and sabotage, while those in rural areas organised themselves as rifle companies; a role for which they were well-suited, being accustomed to fieldcraft and firearms. Training camps were also established in remote areas, for the purposes of training the line infantry and artillerymen the rebels would ultimately need in order to defeat Ricardo decisively. This was invariably a slow process, as the colonial government was well-practiced in preventing such subversion, and arms could be smuggled to the camps only in small amounts. More immediate success was found in subverting the colonial militia regiments; a process that brought the rebel forces its greatest leader. A Tale of Two Rebels Andrew Jackson began his military career at the tender age of thirteen, acting as a courier for the revolutionary forces. His attitude was further hardened by the time he spent as a Prisoner of War, during which his older brother Robert would die of smallpox, and he himself was assauted by a British officer for refusing to clean his boots. His mother, in an attempt to secure their release, had agreed to nurse POWs suffering from Cholera; only to die of the sickness in November of 1781. An orphan at fourteen, Jackson would nurse a deep hatred of the British for the rest of his life. But the defeat of the revolutionary cause left him with no outlet for his hatred. Having decided that the best revenge was to live well, he spent many years working as a frontier lawyer in the Tennessee Colony, and made his home there. He prospered as a planter and merchant, owning over a hundred slaves on his largest plantation, known as the Hermitage. So successful, and respectable, had he become, he was even able to attain rank in the Tennessee Colonial Militia, becoming Major General by 1802. His precise reasons for this are unclear, but loyalty to Britain was unlikely to be among them. Though he had retired from active service by 1815, he retained extensive connections throughout the Tennessee militia, and was highly respected elsewhere. For the new rebellion, he was an invaluable recruit; so much so that by 1817 he had largely shouldered the old leadership aside. Meanwhile, Ricardo sought to further strengthen his position by taking control of the Caribbean islands in their entirety. He began this process with the conquest of Florida; the last vestage of European power east of the Mississippi. His next target was the island of Hispaniola, which he claimed with the help of an unlikely ally. Henri Christophe, King of Haiti, was an effective but unpopular ruler; hated for using forced labour to build his country. Precisely what passed between him and Ricardo's agents is unclear, but in 1818 he was able to conquer the eastern half of the island with Britannian help; accepting the title of Duke of Hispaniola and pledging allegience to the Britannian crown. With Hispaniola under Britannian control, Cuba fell easily, and the Carribbean islands in their entirely would fall under Britannian rule by 1820, along with the remaining European colonies of Guiana and Suriname; these being united with British-controlled Guiana to form Britannian Guiana. Throughout this process, he was only too willing to ennoble local leaders of any stripe in return for their loyalty; further inflaming southern feeling and driving greater and greater numbers into the arms of the rebellion. But if Ricardo was aware of the growing rebellion, he made no show of it. He had a problem much closer to home to distract him; namely his eldest son. Born to Ricardo's previous wife, Henry le Bretan had been named as Ricardo's heir upon his ascension to the Imperial throne. Relations between father and son had grown strained over the years, made worse by Ricardo's ever-growing harem of concubines, who had produced him a selection of alternative heirs. Henry nevertheless avoided disinheritment, in part due to the support of many nobles, including Sir Richard Hector. Matters came to a head during the First Expansionary War, as father and son disagreed over how to deal with the Native population. Henry had come under the influence of Samuel Houston, a maverick lawyer and advocate for the Cherokee people, with whom he had lived as as youth. Swayed by his arguments, Henry became convinced that the Indians could be peacefully incorporated into the empire. Ricardo saw the Indians, even the 'civilised tribes' that lived within the empire's borders, as an obstacle to expansion; for him, the only options were total integration or expulsion. But Ricardo had over-reached himself. His new colony of Guiana was surrounded by two powerful states; the Republic of Colombia to the west, and the Empire of Brazil to the South. Neither were best pleased with this Britannian redoubt on their continent, and neither had managed to establish effective relations with Britannia; due in considerable part to Ricardo's high-handedness and suspicion of republican governments. Led by the nigh-legendary Simon Bolivar, Colombia eventually responded late in 1820, launching a full-scale invasion of Britannian Guiana. The divided and under-supplied Britannian forces were overwhelmed in a matter of weeks, leaving Ricardo embarrassed and short-handed at home. Seeing his chance, Jackson sent out the call to begin the uprising in March of 1821. All across Britannia, isolated outposts were attacked by rebel 'free companies', while government and military buildings were attacked with 'infernal machines'; essentially bombs of one sort or another. With his army spread out over the continent, and whole battalions of militia deserting to the rebels, there was little Ricardo could do at that stage. Within a fortnight of the first attacks, Jackson had assembled a usable army in Tennessee; consisting of around eight thousand infantry, six hundred cavalry, and seventeen guns. His plan was to march north-east against Caerleon, gathering additional troops at pre-arranged points along the route. Ricardo's initial response to the crisis was to assume that Prince Henry was behind it, leading to a violent brawl between their respective supporters in the halls of the palace. Once again, Sir Richard Hector was forced to intervene, putting an end to the disorder and convincing Ricardo of Henry's innocence. He then assigned Sir Jonas Landstrom, Fourth Knight of the Round Table, command of a hastily-assembled force of one thousand cavalry; before ordering them south against the Rebels. Around half of Landstrom's force were colonial dragoons, which had for the most part remained loyal to Ricardo, while the rest were armoured knights of the Orders of the Silver Shield and Sagramor. His task was to overwhelm and crush isolated rebel positions, and order loyalist forces to head north. This he did, riding hard through Virginia to relieve the besieged garrison at Richmond, only to recieve word of another rebel concentration to the south at Petersburg. Judging the threat to Richmond to be too great to ignore, Landstrom ignored his orders and led the Virginia Militia south, facing the rebel force at Swift Creek. The battle was a victory for the Loyalists, but overshadowed somewhat by the conduct of the Order of Sagramor. Ignoring Landstrom's orders to wait, the knights charged the rebel position at Swift Creek Mill. Most of the order's three hundred knights were killed, either by rebel gunfire or by drowning in the creek. Landstrom was forced to deploy his militia infantry, leading one of the charges himself, and managed to storm the mill and take the bridge. His flanking force, consisting of the Silver Shield knights and most of his dragoons, had crossed the creek at Branders Bridge, despite stiff resistance from the rebel force guarding it. The Battle of Lynchburg News of the defeat at Richmond and Petersburg spurred Jackson to action. Overruling the protests of other rebel leaders, he began his march north-east, gathering what troops could reach him. But Ricardo was also on the move, heading south-west with an army of around eight thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry, many of them knights. Enthused by Landstrom's success, he chose to forgive the Fourth Knight's disobedience and instead ordered him to head east towards Lynchburg with all possible forces. But Ricardo made slow progress, repeatedly slowing or halting his march in order to let additional forces catch up; even waiting in Charlottesville for two days. Landstrom was himself delayed by stiff resistance at Appomattox, and on April 10th learned from one of his scouts that Lynchburg had been fortified by several hundred rebel fighters, and that Jackson was only days away. Landstrom faced a dilemma; he might be able to take the town, but he could only hold it if the Emperor came to him immediately. He was by then down to six hundred cavalry and a thousand militia infantry, the latter wearied by hard marching to which they were not accustomed. Learning of the Emperor's repeated delays, Landstrom chose to wait for reinforcements to arrive from Richmond. As a result, Jackson reached Lynchburg on April 14th. Enraged by Landstrom's hesitation, Ricardo marched his army south; reaching the outskirts of Lynchburg on April 16th. By then his army numbered eight thousand infantry, two thousand cavalry, and twenty-eight guns; most of them light horse artillery. Jackson's army had risen to over ten thousand infantry, but still only six hundred cavalry and twenty guns. With the James River between himself and Ricardo, he saw the chance for a deadly trap. Pulling back from the town, he positioned his troops at Fort Hill, hoping to lure the Imperials into the town and trap them against the river. Ricardo responded by sending in his dismounted dragoons, backed up by militia infantry. The sharpshooters left by Jackson put up stiff resistance, then withdrew through the town as per his orders. Ricardo ordered his entire army to cross the river, with his infantry taking the lead. One brigade, under the Fifth Knight Sir Malcolm Chisholm, deployed to attack Fort Hill. A loyal but inexperienced commander, Chisholm launched a full frontal assault in the traditional style; his brigade suffering terribly under rebel artillery and rifle fire. At this point, Ricardo added insult to injury by ordering Prince Henry to lead his own brigade south past Fort Hill, ostensibly to outflank the rebel position. But as Sir Richard Hector and most of Ricardo's staff recognised, this was an invitation to slaughter. Sneering at Hector's pleas to attack in greater strength, Ricardo retorted that he would send no assistance until Henry begged him for it; and if his recalcitrant son refused to attack, he would be branded a coward. Henry met his orders with a fatalistic calm, musing to his horrified companions that if he was marked to die, it was better to die with dignity. Jackson, for his own part, could not believe his luck as he saw Henry's small brigade march south, alone and unsupported. As Ricardo's staff had feared, he unleashed his infantry reserves upon the unfortunate Imperials. Two thousand rebel infantry deployed to attack, with two thousand more forming up behind them. Against them stood Henry and his three thousand troops, consisting of one regular battalion, three militia battalions, and a single squadron of dragoons. Whether out of overconfidence, or a desire to pin the Imperials in place while their comrades deployed, the rebels launched a headlong attack. Henry's troops responded with disciplined volleys, wearing the rebel troops down until they fired off a close-range volley and closed with the bayonet. Seeing this, Jackson is said to have furiously declared "God damn that eagerness!" '' Seemingly distracted by a fresh assault on Fort Hill, Ricardo appeared not to notice that Henry had advanced. According to Sir Richard Hector's own account, he only realised what was happening when he saw a groom leading Henry's horse to the rear. Seemingly unable to believe what was happening, Ricardo flew into a rage; alternating between denying that Henry had indeed gone into battle, and denying that he had given the order. The tirade only ended when he collapsed, apparently due to a stroke. Sir Richard Hector assumed command, and ordered his cavalry reserve of one thousand knights to ride to Henry's assistance. He could not have known that Jackson had recieved dire news from rebel scouts posted to the east; Landstrom was marching to the sound of the guns. Determined to deal with Henry quickly, he deployed his remaining reserves straight at Henry's position, while the three battalions already in position advanced to exchange musket fire with Henry's weary brigade. In a tragedy of timing all too common in the horse and musket era, Jackson did not see the advancing knights until his reserves were already moving, and exposed. As a result, they were caught in the open and suffered heavy losses, though some battalions managed to form square and hold out. The success was dampened, as at Swift Creek, by the indiscipline of the knights. The exception was an ad-hoc company of stranger knights, led by a certain Sir Eric Weinberg, who fought their way to Henry's position. Hector followed up by turning his cannon on the rebel squares, breaking them. Trapped and surrounded on Fort Hill, Jackson attempted to fight his way clear along with his faithful cavalry, only to die in the melee. With all lost, and knowing that only death awaited them, the remaining rebels fought to the end. The defeat at Lynchburg, and the loss of Jackson, tore the heart out of the rebellion. But for the Imperial side it bore its own share of tragedy. When Henry returned to the Imperial command post at Lynchburg, he was informed by a pale-faced staff officer that his father was dead. At the urging of all present, Henry placed the Imperial signet ring on his finger, and was proclaimed Emperor before the troops. He then rode back to Caerleon with his army, determined to secure the throne against his half-siblings and their supporters. As it was, of his eight half-siblings, only two attempted to oppose him; and paid for it with their lives. The survivors - Annabelle li Britannia, Victor el Britannia, Louis vi Britannia, Catherine la Britannia, George de Britannia, and Jessica zi Britannia - all swore allegience to him. This curious naming system had been an invention of Ricardo's, a means of separating their bloodlines while acknowledging their connection to the main household. Henry would reward their loyalty with the titles of archduke and archduchess, recieving the newly-created archduchies of Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia, Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana. These archduchies, along with some smaller independent duchies, became the primary territorial units of the Empire, holding much the same powers as the abolished colonial governors. Thousands of others were ennobled too, under a system of Henry's own devising which endures to this day. With the last embers of rebellion effectively crushed by the spring 1824, Henry's rule seemed secure. But his Empire had more than its fair share of problems. Its territories were vast, extending from the Caribbean to Newfoundland, but sparsely populated. Despite some population growth, and a trickle of immigrants arriving from Europe, it's population was still less than ten million. As such, it was highly vulnerable to attack, not least from the newly-independent Empire of Mexico; a state made up of former Spanish territories running from the Isthmus of Panama in the south to the California peninsula in the north, and bordering Louisiana at its easternmost point. Its ruler, Emperor Agustin de Iturbide, had used the supposed threat of Britannia in order to shore up his often shaky power base. This did not prevent his overthrow in 1824, and Mexico's transformation into an even more hostile republic. Nevertheless, with a population of only six and a half million, and plenty of its own problems, Mexico was little more interested in attacking Britannia than Britannia was in attacking them. The Mexican War Though the conflict has been widely seen as inevitable, what ultimately started the countdown was Henry's policies towards the Indians. Almost certainly influenced by his friendship with Samuel Houston, Henry sought to improve conditions for the Indians. By this point, the Indians remaining in Britannian territory were the so-called Five Civlized Tribes; the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee, and Seminole. Of the five tribes, the Cherokee were regarded with the greatest interest by Britannians. In the years since the establishment of the Empire, they had created their own written language and established what amounted to their own state in the territory of Georgia, with its own police force, newspapers, and legislature. The worryingly republican character of the Cherokee government fuelled Britannian paranoia, and was a convenient excuse for land-hungry Georgians to oppress and mistreat them. The discovery of gold in 1829 only made matters worse. Attempts early in his reign to calm tensions and protect the Indians were largely inneffective, forcing Henry to consider a more radical solution. If his white subjects wanted the Indians expelled, then he would expel them; on ''his ''terms. In 1826, he issued what would come to be known as the Indian Relocation Decree; under which the five tribes would be relocated to a new territory along the Arkansas River. Under this decree, the Indians were required to sell their land to Imperial agents at market price, and were permitted to carry their property away with them. The transfer of the Indians took several years, and did not always go smoothly. In some areas, white mobs attacked Indian communities, and even the Imperial agents sent to oversee the property sales. Such violence was met with armed force, as the archducal regents unleashed their household guards upon the troublemakers, backed by Imperial troops. Ringleaders were guilloutined or hanged, while lesser rebels had their ears cut off; repression that would leave a bitter legacy. Nevertheless the transfers went ahead, with tens of thousands of Indians travelling west over eight years. The land in which they found themselves was vast and fertile, and it did not take the Indians long to establish themselves and prosper. The Cherokees soon rose to prominence in Arkansas, led by their Principal Chief, John Ross. Though of mixed Cherokee and Scottish ancestry, he was regarded as the acceptable face of the Indians by Britannians, and even full-blooded Cherokee looked to him for protection. Henry showed his approval by making Ross an Earl, and naming him as governor of the Arkansas territory in 1830. But if the establishment of the Arkansas territory was a success for Britannia, it was a red rag to the Mexicans; for it occupied the gap between their respective territories north of Louisiana. Indeed, it was assumed by many on both sides - including the Indians themselves - that the territory's purpose was to secure the unclaimed land for Britannia. Among Britannians, the territory became known as the 'Arkansas Marches' for that very reason. Its existence contributed significantly to an ongoing breakdown of relations between Britannia and Mexico, further complicated by the presence of Britannian settlers in the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas. The first of them had arrived during Emperor Agustin's brief reign, and had become Mexican citizens. But the Republic's increasing hostility, not to mention its increasing centralisation of power, left them vulnerable. Precisely what passed between Henry's agents and the 'Texian' colonists is for the most part a mystery. However, it is apparent that he made contact with prominent ''empresario ''Stephen F. Austin at some point between 1828 and 1832, almost certainly using Samuel Houston as a go-between. His purpose in doing so, it is hard to doubt, was to organise a revolt against the Mexican government. Perhaps suspecting this, Mexican authorities arrested Austin in January of 1834. Henry responded by issuing a formal ultimatum, demanding his release and an end to the 'oppression' of the Texians. President Valentín Gómez Farías refused, and what history would come to know as the Mexican War began in March. Faced with extreme war fever and suspicion of Mexico at home, Henry's intent was nothing less than the conquest of Mexico; and his strategy reflected this. A small force was sent east under Sir Jonas Landstrom with a view to securing Alta California. Another, larger army invaded Neuvo Mexico, under the command of General Sir Winfield Scott, accompanied by John Ross and four of the Indian regiments. This force had a double purpose; both to secure territory for the Empire and to win over the local Indian populations, whose relationship with the Mexican authorities was stormy at best, outright hostile at worst. Scott was himself a relative newcomer, regarded with suspicion in some quarters because of his North American birth and for not being one of 'Ricardo's own'; the clique of nobles and officers who had been close to Emperor Ricardo from the beginning. But Henry was far more open-minded, and Scott's skill as both general and diplomat would amply justify his trust. The third army was led by Henry himself, moving south-west along the coast towards Matamoros. After defeating a Mexican army at Palo Alto on May 8th, he captured Matamoros a week later. With this port secured as a supply base, Henry pushed inland, taking Monterrey after a costly battle taking three days. With disease further weakening his forces, Henry paused at Monterrey, allowing Mexican forces to withdraw south. This string of defeats made an already unstable Mexican political situation even worse. President Farias was finally overthrown in June, replaced by General Antonio López de Santa Anna, the man whose proxy he had initially been. Santa Anna had won fame fighting against the Spanish, and in the various minor civil wars that had plagued Mexico for much of its independent period; his survival and success earning him a reputation as a smooth political operator. With his stalking horse Farias gone, Santa Anna assumed full authority, turning Mexico into a military dictatorship. Hoping to catch Henry napping, he led an army of twenty thousand north in late July, via the mountain roads towards the town of Saltillo. But Henry was already moving, and would meet Santa Anna to the south of Saltillo, near the village of Buena Vista. Despite being weakened by desertion, the Mexican army won a costly victory, forcing Henry to withdraw to Monterrey. But news of an uprising in Mexico City forced an enraged Santa Anna to withdraw south, giving Henry time to summon reinforcements. In February of 1837, taking advantage of Scott's capture of Zacatecas, he advanced south and took Cuidad Victoria, then headed south west to capture San Luis Potosi, meeting Scott there in early April. Weary of what was proving a costly war, Henry immediately pushed south towards Mexico City, which he captured after a heroic defence in May of 1834. Armed resistance would drag on for several years, but for all intents and purposes the Mexican War was over. Splendid Isolation Victory in the Mexican War left Britannia as the nigh-undisputed master of North America. The only foreign enclave in that area was Russian-controlled Alaska - so far from the Britannian heartland as to be barely worthy of notice - and the only other land route was via Panama to the south. Ironically, a victory meant to unite and strengthen Britannia would ultimately serve to divide it; splitting open a faultline in Britannian politics. The first coherent faction to emerge from this was the Purists, whose concern at that time was the maintenance of Britannia's social structure, especially the Imperial monarchy. At this stage, the Purists tended to favour a rigid class structure, though this would change over time. Opposed to them were a diverse Liberal faction, which tended to favour a looser class structure with greater social mobility. But the political situation was further complicated by cultural issues; generally divided between so-called 'Ricardians' who sought to create an Arthurian culture in accordance with Ricardo's vision, and the more European-leaning elements surrouding Henry. At this point, the Purists and the Ricardians tended to unite against the other factions, though their differing attitudes towards Henry prevented a true alliance. Though southern Mexico would remain restive for some time, Britannia would continue to stabilise and prosper for many years. Restive Indian populations were controlled to some extent through the establishment of two new territories; Comacheria and Apacheria; intended in part to act as a buffer zone against potential Mexican revolt. Henry sought to bring the various Indian tribes into the fold via an early version of the Honourary Britannian system, which came down in practice to carrot-and-stick. Indian leaders who cooperated with rewarded with noble titles, and their nations with title deeds to their land. Those who did not found themselves at a disadvantage in any conflict with loyalist nations and tribes; both in the courtroom and on the battlefield. This fed into a deep-rooted resentment and suspicion felt by many Indians, who saw it as a system of divide-and-rule; but it had the effect of bringing the Indian territories more firmly under Imperial control. Disagreements and outright conflict between traditionalist and modernising Indians fed into a wider social and political controversy over the direction in which Britannia was destined to take. Should it modernise along European lines, or should it hold fast to traditional ways of life? Ironically, among the most vocal protectors of Indian traditionalists in the corridors of Imperial power were the Ricardian nobles, who saw the protection of traditional ways of life as vital to the maintenance of social order. The overall effect was a gradual slowing-down of progress, as Henry and his government were forced to turn more and more time and resources over to simply holding the empire together, and creating institutions to that effect. On the whole, Britannia's level of economic development was quite high, and would become consistently so over the rest of his reign. It was nevertheless, for the most part, bound by the limits of pre-industrial technology, and a pre-industrial approach to agriculture and social organisation. In some more forward-thinking regions, usually in the northern archduchies, generally water-driven mills and factories could be seen; with a radical few even experimenting with steam power. However, the majority of the population lived on the land, adhering to a way of life that had endured in Europe for centuries. Slavery continued to die out in favour of serfdom; a system under which individuals were bound to the land they farmed rather than treated as chattels in themselves. The decline of the African slave trade further accelerated this process. The obvious advantage was that serfs were self-sufficient, whereas slaves had to be fed and housed at their owner's expense. They were also much less likely to run away or be rebellious, as their small plots and homes gave them something to lose; whereas a slave had little or nothing to lose. This system nevertheless contributed to an informal system of racial stratification, for the majority of serfs were former black slaves; though increasing numbers of white Britannians were becoming enserfed, usually as a punishment for crime or in order to escape debt. ''More to come Government Britannia is in theory a Constitutional Monarchy, with power divided between the throne and a bicameral legislature; with the aristocracy represented by the House of Lords and the commoners (everyone else) represented by the House of Commons. The Emperor's powers are in practice extensive, including the right to sign and veto legislation, appoint Ministers and Judges, command the armed forces, convene and dismiss Parliament, grant pardons, and recieve ambassadors. Economy The Britannian economy is essentially capitalist, with a distinctly laissez-faire tendency. It is one of the world's largest, counting for an estimated 30% of global GDP. Like the empire, the economy has historically been a closed system, with relatively little external interaction or trade taking place. This isolation was cemented by the conquest of South America, which provided Britannia with all the raw materials and capital it could possibly need; with the sole exception of sakuradite. Attempts to expand international trade in the early 21st century were ended by the Indochina crisis, when the EU managed to enforce a global trade embargo of unprecedented scale and scope against Britannia. Though mixed and highly diverse, the economy is dominated by two primary forces; the Imperial Bank of Britannia, and the Megacorporations. The former is the empire's central bank and lender of last resort, with the sole and unique right to issue currency. The post of Chief Governor is always held by the reigning Emperor, though the role may be carried out by a designated proxy; Emperor Charles' proxy was his son and Chancellor, Schneizel el Britannia. As a result, the Emperor in effective has the power to set monetary policy and control the amount of cash money in circulation. This in theory allows the Emperor to prevent the economy from running out of control, but in turn places a crucial and overwhelming responsibility on the shoulders of a single person. The Megacorporations are the many dozens of major corporations and conglomerates that between them dominate most economic activity outside the direct purview of the Throne and the Imperial Family. Some are over a century old, and most are under the effective control of aristocratic families. Denied outright monopolies by anti-trust laws, megacorporations tend to make up for it with highly diverse portfolios, with the largest encompassing dozens of different industries. Their wealth and economic importance gives them enormous political influence, to the point where they effectively control the empire's accountancy bodies. As a result, effective oversight of their accounting practices, and wider operations, is nigh-on impossible short of outright espionage. This tendency has been a factor in a number of major economic crises, including the 1996 'Credit Crunch'. Military Organisation The Britannian armed forces are organised into three primary branches; army, navy, and air force. Each has its own knightmare branch; the Royal Panzer Infantry, the Royal Marine Infantry, and the Royal Aerial Infantry respectively. The Imperial Guard is also a separate branch unto itself, and all branches are connected by certain sub-branches, notably the VTOL Corps and the Logistics Corps. The Office of Secret Intelligence maintains its own special forces unit. The uniforms of the three primary branches are standardised, and based on the notion of 'noble colours'. Enlisted ranks tend to wear grey, while subaltern officers wear blue, and flag-rank officers wear white. Common variations include dark grey for staff officers, orange uniforms for engineers, and yellow for medics. The standard officer's uniform consists of a suit-style open jacket, fastening on the right or left in the male and female versions respectively. Both include white collared shirts and neckties, the colour of the latter varying according to service branch. Male personnel wear trousers as standard, while female personnel are permitted either trousers or knee-length skirts. Rank and service sub-branch may be displayed on the collar and lapels. In combat, a high-collared tunic is worn on top. Headgear generally consists of flat caps for officers and kepi for enlisted, though engineers are permitted berets. The Imperial Guards and Royal Guards also have their own uniforms. Royal Guard infantry ('Foot Guards') follow the standard pattern, but coloured dark red. Royal Guard devicers (dubbed 'Knightmare Guards') wear tailed dark red coats, with grey frogging for subalterns and gold frogging for field and flag rank officers. Doctrine and Strategy Current Britannian military doctrine is heavily influenced both by Britannia's recent history and by its long-standing dream of world domination. The overall goal is to create a military force capable of protecting the homeland and colonies from any conventional aggressor, while also being able to go on the attack and defeat any enemy on any terrain. Britannia has traditionally done this through the so-called Theseus Doctrine; so named for Emperor Theseus the Great, and his strategies in the conquest of South America. This doctrine favours a war of machines, seeking to destroy the enemy's military capability through overwhelming firepower. This is Britannian warfare at its least chivalric, deriving from an age between the decline of the knightly orders and the rise of the knightmare frame. It fell out of favour following the conquest, in part due to revulsion at its lack of chivalry and the sheer destruction it had wrought. The current Britannian doctrine, known as the Knightmare Doctrine, favours mobility and aggression, with knightmares taking centre stage. In a typical open-field operation, knightmares will operate ahead and to the flanks of the main force. Special Dragoon Squadrons are permitted to act independently, with minimal input from their superiors, but otherwise knightmares tend to function at the company level. Their role in the early stages of an engagement is both reconnaissance and direct action; they must find the enemy, keep the commander informed of his movements, then blind him by isolating and destroying his forward recon units. Once this is done, the knightmares will begin to isolate larger formations, surrounding and cutting them off, while launching hit-and-run attacks to disrupt their cohesion and weaken morale. Once they are suitably softened, the mechanised formations strike the final blow. Knightmares are supported from the air by squadrons of Raven gunships. Much like the ground forces, the air force favours aggression and taking the fight to the enemy. Once a focus of Britannia's chivalric culture, the knights of the sky have since lost that primacy to the knightmare frame. Air force doctrine has until recently been built primarily around multirole aircraft, and focusses on three primary missions; air dominance, close air support, and strategic air strike. Of these, the air force considers air dominance to be the most important, and tends to resent being called on to perform other operations before this has been achieved. The other major change in recent years as been the appearance of floatships. After a slow start, the IBAF has embraced floatships as a means of regaining prestige, though they are unlike anything in their recent experience. As with knightmares, Britannia has had the opportunity to lay much of the groundwork for the use of floatships. Current doctrine treats them as naval warships in the air, regarding the particulars of floatship combat as being essentially the same as naval combat. Equipment In order to reduce expense and simplify logistics, the Britannian forces have attempted to consolidate their vehicle needs into as few models as possible. MB-40 Clarent Main Battle Tank The Clarent ''has served as Britannia's MBT since 2008 ATB. It is regarded as a fourth-generation tank, developed as part of a full-scale revamping of the army following the ascession of Emperor Charles. Its armour is a then-revolutionry composite known only as Covington, providing impressive protection at relatively light weight. Its main armament is a 240mm railgun, providing superlative firepower. Its secondary armament is a turret-mounted autocannon, which can be operated automatically or remotely by the commander; offering protection against infantry and incoming missiles. M-115 Morddure Armoured Personnel Carrier The ''Morddure ''is Britannia's front-line APC, used by both regular and colonial formations. It is built on the same six-wheel chassis as the ''Caliburn, ''but with a different superstructure to match its role. Its armament is a pair of 30mm rapid-firing coilguns set into a forward turret, providing effective firepower against aircraft, knightmares, and light vehicles. Its laminate armour is proof against small arms, but vulnerable to anti-vehicle and knightmare weaponry. The crew consists of a driver, gunner, and commander, with space for eight passengers. MA-55 ''Caliburn Assault Gun The Caliburn ''is a six-wheeled, turreted railgun, based on the same chassis as the ''Morddure ''and the same turret as the ''Clarent. It carries the same 240mm railgun as the Clarent, ''but its mechanism and targeting systems are configured for both direct and indirect fire. Like the ''Morddure, ''it is light enough to be used by rapid-deployment formations. Though its armour is somewhat heavier than that of the ''Morddure, ''it is still vulnerable to anti-vehicle and knightmare weaponry. SHA-4 ''Balor Superheavy Artillery Gun The Balor'' is the ultimate in mobile superheavy artillery. Essentially a gigantic railgun mounted on a chassis the size of a G-1 MCV, the ''Gallatin ''can achieve ranges of up to 600 kilometres. MS-2 ''Lugh mobile SAM system G-1 MCV Kestrel VTOL gunship Rhiannon multirole VTOL Morrigan transport VTOL Hawk multirole fighter Falcon multirole fighter Albatross heavy transport Logres class floatship Caerleon class floatship Famous and Infamous Britannians Emperor Ricardo le Britannia Emperor Henry 'the Cunning' Emperor Lothar 'the Iron-Handed' ﻿ Category:Nations Category:Organizations